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What is Infrared?
Infrared energy is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and behaves similarly to visible light. It travels through space at the speed of light and can be reflected, refracted, absorbed, and emitted. The wavelength of IR energy is about an order of magnitude longer than visible light, between 0.7 and 1000 m (millionths of a meter). Other common forms of electromagnetic radiation include radio, ultraviolet, and x-ray.
Black and white and color thermograms of a person; and a visible light photograph. Note the glasses appear cool because they are cooler than the skin and longwave infrared energy will not pass through glass. You can see the temperature patterns on the face, reds are warmer, yellows and greens are cooler. Thermal patterns on the skin surface can be indicative of disease and are sometimes used to aid medical diagnoses.
Visible light
Thermal infrared
I have seen movies where thermal imaging is used to see through walls. Can this really be done?
Unfortunately this is pure Hollywood fiction. However there are at least a couple of films with real thermal infrared footage: Predator and Predator 2. The authors of this article were consultants on these two films. These were made using a single detector scanning system with a liquid nitrogen cooled detector. Today we use room temperature focal plane arrays.
Three aluminum cans with partially oxidized surfaces and a strip of black electrical tape. The can on the left is hot, middle can is ambient and right can is cold.
This is an extremely important concept. Thermographers see targets exhibiting this emissivity contrast behavior every day. It could be an insulated electric cable with a bare metal bolted connection. It could be a bare metal nameplate on a painted surface such as an oil filled circuit breaker or load tap changer. It could be a piece of electrical tape placed by the thermographer on bus bar to enable a decent reading. The list is long. It turns out that for opaque objects, the emissivity and reflectivity are complementary. High emissivity means low reflectivity and vice versa. The conservation of energy law shows us that: (1.1) Greek letters for e, r and t are typically used where emissivity is e, reflectivity, r and transmissivity, t. For opaque targets, t = 0 and the equation reduces to: (1.2) Equation 1.2 is a powerful result. In simple terms it says that a high emissivity means a low reflectivity. A low reflectivity means a high emissivity. Thermographers like the emissivity to be as high as possible. They then get the most accurate reading as most of the radiosity is due to radiant energy emitted by the target. Modern IR cameras correct for emissivity with a modicum of user input. But the uncertainty in the measurement increases with decreasing emissivity. Our calculations show the measurement uncertainty gets unacceptably high for target emissivities below about 0.5. Emissivity tables abound. But emissivity is a slippery slope. Above, we discussed emissivity as a material surface property. It is that, and more. The shape of an object affects its emissivity. For semi-transparent materials, the thickness will affect emissivity. Other factors affecting emissivity include: viewing angle, wavelength and temperature. The wavelength dependence of emissivity means that different IR cameras can get different values for the same object. And they would both be correct! We recommend measuring the emissivity of
your key targets under conditions they are likely to be monitored during routine surveys. A quality IR training course can teach you how. It is not difficult. In general, dielectrics (electrically non-conducting materials) have relatively high emissivities, ranging from about 0.8 to 0.95. This includes well-painted metals. Unoxidized bare metals have emissivities below about 0.3 and should not be measured. Oxidized metals have emissivities ranging from about 0.5 to 0.9, and are the problematic category due to the large range of values. The degree of oxidation is a key ingredient to an objects emissivity. The higher the oxidation, the higher the emissivity. For opaque objects, if you know the emissivity and the background (reflected) temperature, an IR camera with a temperature measurement feature can give temperatures accurate to within a few percent. To get temperature, the IR camera must extract just the fraction of the radiosity due to the energy emitted by the target. Fortunately, modern IR cameras are smart and can do this. They subtract the reflected component, then scale the result by the target emissivity. The resulting value can then be compared to a calibration table and temperature extracted.
object. The latter has been the classic use of IR film. It was initially developed during World War II to detect camouflaged gun emplacements. The enemy had done a good job of creating camouflage that looked like trees and bushes, difficult to detect analyzing visible light aerial photographs. But healthy vegetation reflects sunlight in the near infrared quite strongly. Enemy camouflage did not. Infrared film was a real breakthrough and made the air photo interpreters job much easier. Infrared-sensitive photographic emulsions can be used to study the distribution of objects that are hot enough to emit infrared energy just below red heat levels such as stoves, engine parts, high-pressure boilers, etc. The range of temperatures that can be recorded is from approximately 250C to 500C (482F to 932F). In comparison, electronic thermography can be used on objects with temperatures ranging from -40 C to more than 1500 C (-40 F to > 2730 F). So if you wanted to see heat loss from your house with infrared film, it would have to be on fire! If you want to capture and image of your house in infrared under ambient, non-fire, conditions, infrared film will not work. You must use a thermal infrared camera.
equipment, and manpower, and can expose maintenance personnel to hazardous ionizing radiation. Thermography can be an indispensable tool for inspecting planes for this problem. After the plane has landed, the ice remains at 0 C while it is melting. The rest of the plane has warmed to ambient temperatures on the approach. This provides an ideal opportunity to search for the ice pockets with a thermal imaging system while the plane is being serviced.
An entire aircraft can be surveyed in 20 minutes with no downtime. Images are recorded digitally for later analysis at an image processing workstation. There are many more instances when thermography can be utilized. Here are a few: Benefits of Infrared Thermography
Significantly reduce unscheduled power outages Detect problems quickly, without interrupting service Assess priorities for corrective action Minimize preventive maintenance and troubleshooting time Comply with insurance company requirements Check for defective equipment while still under manufacturer warranty
Electrical Systems
Power generation inspections including exciters, 4160 connections, motor control centers and isophase bus ducts. Substation Electrical inspections including switchgear, breakers, transformers and capacitor banks. Overhead urban and rural distribution electrical inspections. Electrical motor inspections
Thermal heat loss inspections for buildings, plants, facilities, refineries. Moisture contamination evaluations in buildings, condo's, plants facilities Concrete integrity inspections Concrete water heated floor inspections for leaks and temperature distribution Locate missing or damaged insulation Identify air leakage energy losses Evaluate the thermal performance of retrofits Locate radiant heating wires or pipes Detect delaminations in concrete bridge deck Locate and identify mold growth areas in building structures
Roofing Systems
Flat roof leak detection for buildings, plants, facilities Identify water damaged portions of a roof quickly and accurately Eliminate unnecessary replacement of good roofing Plan accurate budgets based on facts Document problems before the warranty/bond expires
Mechanical Systems
Boilers Inspect burners for flame impingement and burner management Look at combustion patterns of fuel Detect thermal patterns on boiler tubes and measure tube skin temperature during normal operation or when boiler is on standby o Scan and record temperatures in areas of boiler not monitored o Scan the exterior of boiler for refectory damage or locate warmer areas where potential refectory damage may occur Detect coke buildup in crude oil furnaces Power Plant boiler flue gas leak detection Mechanical bearing inspections Heat ventilation air conditioning equipment evaluation Cold Storage cooling losses. Detect insulation leaks in refrigeration equipment
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Petrochemical Applications
Refinery process line insulation loss or leak detection Refinery process evaluation Heat exchanger Quality and efficiency evaluation Furnace refractory (insulation) inspections Furnace Internal flame evaluation and tube inspections Flame propagation explosion analysis.
Electronic Equipment
Printed circuit board evaluation and troubleshooting. Thermal mapping of semiconductor device services Circuit board component evaluation Production-type inspection of bonded structures Inspection of hybrid microcircuits Inspection of solder joints
Environmental Applications
Locate old waste disposal sites Locate old buried tanks on industrial sites Locate and monitor oil spills
Automotive Application
Motor racing suspension and tire contact diagnostics Brake and engine systems evaluation for performance and cooling efficiencies
Aerospace Applications
Water ingress in airplane control surfaces and radomes Tire and brake system diagnosis
Windshield and wing surface deicing system diagnosis Stress crack and corrosion identification and location Jet and rocket engine analysis Composite materials delamination and disbanding location Target signature analysis
Medical injury examinations for whiplash, back injuries, Carpal Tunnel syndrome Disease evaluation - breast cancer, arthritis and many more Dentistry, tempomandibular jaw dysfunction and more Sports injuries evaluation, and therapy progress Equine (horse) injury examination, stress fractures, lameness Laser dosimetry determination
Airborne applications
Pipeline inspection, leak detection, stress corrosion cracking areas Environmental inspections, pollution dumping, thermal dumping of waste water Fire Mapping, hold over fires, fire line and mop-up inspections High Voltage Aerial Electrical inspections for transmission lines Search and rescue Covert surveillance
Detect uneven heat distribution in Fourdrinier steam boxes Identify wet streaks, non-uniformity, that can have adverse effects on paper quality Identify basis weight variations Monitor size press performance Analyze dryer temperatures to look for non-uniformity in dryers Monitor coating to see that it is being applied uniformly to surface of the paper Analyze reel to find anomalies that may be induced by pieces of process equipment connected to the paper machine Inspect chip piles for hot spots
Locate inter-laminar faults in stator cores Monitor the effectiveness of repairs to the damaged areas Help maintain quality control during a stator core repair Obtain a thermal image of the stator core that serves as a permanent record of the condition of the stator core following repairs
Miscellaneous Applications
Detect RF heating in antennas, wave guides, guy wires and frame structures Locate low-intensity sleeper fires on forest lands Locate lost people Remote sensing applications Firefighting Locate people in burning buildings and navigate through smoke Locate non uniform densities in hot mix asphalt paving Locate moisture and delaminations in marine construction